I'm old enough to remember when MTV took to the airwaves - August 1, 1981. It didn't take long before the music channel assaulted all of us with its slogan, "I want my MTV." I remember the cheesy promotional photos of the Apollo 11 moon landing, with the flag featuring MTV's logo. I even remember the original five VJ's - Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, J.J. Jackson and Martha Quinn - and thinking none of them had an ounce of talent, but I didn't mind Martha Quinn because at least she was pretty cute.
I'm old enough to remember when MTV played music, but I didn't see the first two videos that were aired, The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star" and Pat Benatar's "You Better Run," because we didn't have cable. Both videos are merely mediocre, but here are five killer videos that I have had the opportunity to view.
Song: "Hurt"
Artist: Johnny Cash
Director: Mark Romanek
Romanek's video captures a beleaguered Cash at the end of his tumultuous life. The video accomplishes what every great video should accomplish - it enhances the singer's performance.
Song: "Buddy Holly"
Band: Weezer
Director: Spike Jonze
Who's the coolest fictional character of all time? That's right, Fonzie. Well, The Fonz is the star of Spike Jonze's video, so that makes Weezer's video the coolest of all time.
Song: "Once in a Lifetime"
Band: Talking Heads
Director: Toni Basil
Remember Toni Basil? She had one that annoying hit in the 80s, "Mickey." "Mickey" wasn't so fine, but the Talking Heads video she directed certainly is. Basil directed and helped choreograph the "Once in a Lifetime" video that managed to capture David Byrne's bizarre brilliance. Even though "Once in a Lifetime" didn't receive much radio play, it was in heavy rotation on MTV.
Song: "Jeremy"
Band: Pearl Jam
Director: Mark Pellington
One of the most artistic videos ever. The final scene still gives me goose bumps. Mark Pellington has said, "I think that video tapped into something that has always been around and will always be around. You're always going to have peer pressure, you're always going to have adolescent rage, you're always going to have dysfunctional families."
Song: "Sledgehammer"
Artist: Peter Gabriel
Director: Stephen R. Johnson
In 1986, Stephen R. Johnson's video for "Sledgehammer" was considered groundbreaking for "its innovative use of claymation, pixilation and stop-motion animation." Today, it's still impressive.
In First Concert, all kinds of folks have discussed their first live music experience and the impact it might have had on their life and for some, their art. Dozens of creative people have shared their amazing stories of unhinged live performances or forgotten B-sides. So here goes another installment of First Concert.
Nathan Englander is the author of the story collections What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank and For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, as well as the novel The Ministry of Special Cases. Along with What We Talk About, Englander’s translation of the New American Haggadah (edited by Jonathan Safran Foer) and his co-translation of Etgar Keret's Suddenly A Knock at the Door were also published in 2012. His play “The Twenty-Seventh Man” will have its premiere at The Public Theater in November. He lives in Brooklyn, New York and Madison, Wisconsin.
What was the first concert you ever attended? How old were you?
The first person I saw in concert was Adam Ant. I was probably 14 or 15.
What do you remember about the performance?
I remember that he was wearing jeans so utterly shredded that they didn't really qualify as pants anymore. And, simply, that it was a lot of fun for a deeply religious, sheltered kid to be at a concert.
How do you think that experience affected you as an artist?
It's the first time I ever saw anyone work the room. There was a store in suburbia called Mutts & Butts that sold dog food and cigarettes. And Adam Ant made a joke about the store - it was him sharing local, insider knowledge, a nod to the place he was performing. I have no idea why my teenage self would note that, but it did.
For every UK band that has found success in America - The Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Who, Oasis - there are thousands of bands like Snow Patrol, Slade, Manic Street Preacher, and Stereophonics. Conquering America is no easy feat. Even classic English bands like The Kinks, who eventually found an audience, struggled for many years in the U.S.
Here are the top 5 UK bands that have failed to find superstardom across The Pond (for one reason or another). The following bands might have been admired in America, but their popularity in no way compared to the popularity they had back in the motherland.
Buzzcocks
In the summer of 1977, the British punk scene exploded. Record companies were scrambling to discover the next Sex Pistols.
The Buzzcocks signed a record deal with United Artists on August 16, 1977, the day that Elvis Presley died. Perhaps The King's death was a foreshadow of things to come for Pete Shelley, Steve Diggle and company.
The Buzzcocks didn't reach The States until the fall of 1979. They were promoting their American release, a collection of singles along with B-sides, Singles Going Steady, which was the first official Buzzcocks' album to be released in America, though they had already released two studio albums in the UK.
By the time they released their third studio album A Different Kind of Tension, also in the fall of ’79, the band was ready to implode. Pete Shelley said: "By the time we came over to America, I was already dead, emotionally scarred by the way the band had been eaten up and absorbed by drugs."
The Americans embraced the Buzzcocks. Shelley remembered the band's U.S. tour: "We had a great reception in America. We hit the East and the West Coast and a few cities across the top. I’m sure there were great places in the middle, but we didn’t get to go there." The band broke up just two years later in 1981.
The Buzzcocks' legacy is unquestionable. They were a vital influence on the Manchester scene, indie rock, power pop, pop punk and punk rock scene.
Pulp
Throughout the 1980s, Pulp struggled to find success in Great Britain. It wasn't until the mid-1990s with the release of His 'n' Hers (1994) and Different Class (1995), which reached #1 on the UK Albums Charts, that the band established a following. Different Class generated four top ten singles, including "Common People," but be honest now...how many of you know the song? I thought so...
The Libertines
When a band has been given the label "has potential," that usually means they're underachievers, perhaps insufferable addicts prone to chaos, who will eventually fail to reach such projected heights. The Libertines are that band.
Formed in 1997 and led by dual frontmen Pete Doherty (guitar/vocals) and Carl Barat (guitar/vocals), The Libertines' style is a mix between indie rock, garage rock and the first wave of British punk circa 1977.
Inspired by such stalwart UK bands as The Jam, Sex Pistols, The Smiths, The Kinks and The Clash, The Libertines fully embraced their English heritage. Like David Bowie and Ray Davies before them, as the band's primary songwriters, Doherty and Barat incorporated English/cockney slang and often sang in a distinctly British accent, which occasionally sounds like a drunken slur.
They released two studio albums, both produced by Mick Jones of The Clash, but in 2003 Pete Doherty's heroin and crack cocaine addictions and tension between Doherty and Barat were too much for the band to overcome. Disappearing from a European tour, breaking into Barat's house and stealing valuable items does not a good band member make. Doherty was simply out of control.
The Libertines split up in 2004, and while they've reunited several times for festivals, there isn't any news regarding an album of new material.
Blur
When Blur emerged in the late 80s, they were a psychedelic group in the vein of the Stone Roses. The group had moderate success, so in the mid-90s, they reinvented themselves, and along with their rivals Oasis had become the most popular band in the U.K.
With Blur's fifth album, Blur(1997), singer Damon Albarn publicly rejected British music and embraced American indie rock. The UK audience wasn't too keen on the band's new sound, but the Americans dug it. Blur received good reviews and had a reasonable hit with the single "Song 2."
Blur's legacy will remain in Great Britain, however, where they helped revitalize guitar pop by mastering the British pop tradition, and along with Oasis had become the leading exporters or Brit Pop.
The Jam
The first wave of British punk in 1977 included The Sex Pistols, The Clash, the Buzzcocks andThe Jam; The Jam (Paul Weller, Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler) had the most significant impact on British popular music. While they were superstars in their homeland, they were virtually unknown in America.
From 1977 to 1982, The Jam had eighteen consecutive Top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, including four #1 hits. Not one of their songs entered the top 40 in the United States.
There is a recurring theme that appears to run throughout all five bands. Perhaps the reason they didn't find comparable success in the United States is because they were all "too British." Do you agree with that particular assessment?
Leave a comment below, telling us what other UK bands couldn't match the same success in America.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I love Oasis. I spent a good deal of my sophomore year of college with “Live Forever” and “Don’t Look Back in Anger” on repeat. But I did a serious double take when I saw that Liam Gallagher had been given such a lofty title. Oasis was a huge success and Gallagher is a very good frontman. My issue is not with Liam specifically, but with the list itself; it is clearly flawed.
Successful and talented as Liam Gallaghermight be, when you compare him to a timeless great like Freddie Mercury, there shouldn’t even be a question of who comes out on top. Who has a ten-foot statue overlooking Lake Geneva? Liam Gallagher? I think not.
Freddie Mercury oozed talent, charisma and showmanship. David Bowie is one of Mercury's biggest admirers: “Of all the more theatrical rock performers, Freddie took it further than the rest...he took it over the edge...he was definitely a man who could hold an audience in the palm of his hand.”
As for Liam Gallagher, he thinks he deserves to be number one: "It's always been about the vocal for me, man. If you're a good looking fucker like me, you've got to be down the front, haven't you?"
All lists are flawed.
(Shannon Elisa Spiegel is a Criminal Justice student at Pace University. She grew up in New Jersey, and has an unabashed love for Bruce Springsteen to show for it. Her favorite Beatles' song is “Oh! Darling” and is currently playing Mumford and Sons’Sigh No More on her iPod. She was a classically trained vocalist for eight years and also attempted to teach herself to play the guitar.)
After years of playing with the punk rock outfit the Briggs, Matthew Stolarz was looking for a new challenge, so he assembled The Active Set, a band with roots in New Wave and Punk, but not afraid to venture into new sounds and styles.
They've released their debut album 11 and are currently touring with Neon Trees in support of the record. The L.A. band is quickly building a dedicated following. Riffraf recently talked to Matthew about forming The Active Set and where they're headed.
I helped start the Briggs, and those boys and I got along so well I stayed probably longer than I should have. I was a bassist, but I really wanted to sing and play a completely different style than punk rock. It's completely in my musical upbringing, and part of my roots, but for the music I wanted to write it was a bit one-dimensional.
What were some of the challenges in starting The Active Set?
Finding the right set of guys. My first attempt at starting a band failed because I grabbed the closest friends who happened to play music. This was not smart. You need people who are aligned to a common vision, as much as that is possible.
Your music has a New Wave, Post-Punk vibe. Who have been your major influences?
XTC was my world for about three years. I absorbed every album, and Black Sea is one of my favorite albums of all time. There was a lot of British influence - 70s, 80s, and 90s. Once we got Castro, and he introduced the electronic drums it really brought us a bit more into New Wave territory.
How collaborative is the songwriting process?
At this point, we mostly collaborate on the music, and I write the lyrics. Although one of the songs on the album was a full song I wrote, and our drummer Castro and I fully flushed out the arrangement.
What has been the response to your debut album, 11?
Very positive. What's interesting is everybody has different favorites. A few write-ups have talked about a possible lack of cohesion track to track, but I don't care. If that's true, I'd rather have a scattered eclectic album than twelve tracks that all sound the same.
How did you choose the band's name?
I've always loved energy in music, which is probably why I got into punk as a kid. I get really excited by a great band or even some really well executed electronic beats. So I had this word 'active' and tried dozens of combinations 'til I stumbled onto Active Set. I loved it.
How much fun was filming the zombie massacre for "Famous For Dying"?
Our director wanted to do a camp horror video, so we let him run with it. It was great. The zombies really delivered performance-wise. It was uncomfortably messy for some and cleanup took a long time.
So, what's next for you guys?
Well, we're currently on tour with Neon Trees which has been amazing. They have such supportive, eager fans who are really open to the openers. It's been the best tour thus far, so we're looking to get on the road more.
(Elford Alley has had plays produced and read across the United States and his sketch comedy featured in several shows in Chicago. He also writes for cracked.com. He currently resides in Dallas with his wife and daughter.)
Joshua Mikel hails from Atlanta and graduated from Florida State University in 2007 with a dual degree in theatre and creative writing. He is a playwright and works as an actor and freelance graphic designer via his company Sharkguts Design. He has created music videos for Neon Trees, Fake Problems, Blacklist Royals, Ninja Gun, and Look Mexico, for which he was the long time drummer.
Josh chatted with Riffraf about his crash course in filmmaking, working on a shoestring budget, and engaging in reckless energy drink use in order to meet deadlines.
How did you start making music videos?
The FSU Honors office was offering grants; I won one under the proposition that I make the transition from strictly playwriting to screenwriting. So me and my buddy Travis wrote a couple shorts; we rented a camera and shot. Among these three other short scripts, I figured what the hell, we have a camera, and I have a little money, let's shoot a music video for Look Mexico (the band I used to play drums in). That was the video for "Guys, I Need a Helicopter." It was a lot of fun, and I learned a shit ton. Then I kind of took it upon myself to produce/direct the rest of the videos while I was in the band. Those videos led to work with my friends Fake Problems and eventually with Blacklist Royals and Neon Trees.
Do you think being a musician gave you insight into what musicians look for in a video?
I wouldn't say so. I think you have to develop an eye for directing before you really know what folks look for. With that first video, I wanted to basically create something hyper nostalgic. Luckily, this camera we rented could shoot 60 frames per second, and nearly ANYTHING in high speed looks awesome. We really milked that.
What has been the biggest lesson you learned from directing videos?
There's a whole shit ton of stuff involved in putting a film together that most folks don't really take into consideration...So there was a whole bunch of stuff that I needed to take on as "producer" of these things, that I never took into account before I tried my hand at filmmaking.
Just because you act in a couple of short films at your college doesn't mean you know the ins and outs of filmmaking. I was absolutely clueless. I was calling myself director, when in actuality I was just taking on producer positions. Or I would storyboard a video. But when it came to directing, I had no idea what to do.
How do you come up with the video's concept?
Usually it begins with the song. I guess for the Look Mexico videos I just wanted to tell fun little narratives. Kids having the most excellent summer day. A pie eating contest (that ends up being a bit like No Exit). A little boy trapped in this kind of wild dream world, dudes on a hunting trip hunting down real monsters...that kind of shit. With the Fake Problems videos - those were more of a dialogue between the band and the other filmmakers and I. Usually it has to do with finding the coolest visuals. The Neon Trees video was about listening to the song. I created three pitches for the piece, and in discussion with their PR folks, I honed it down to one, and then fine-tuned that before I set in to animate.
You've done animated and live action videos. Do you have a preference?
Well, I tend to like animated videos because those generally are the ones where I feel like I am truly the director. Other times, there are so many variables, and I don't think I've earned a spine on live sets yet. I think I'm getting there, but only recently have I really understood the on set dynamic a director tries to achieve - about the things one has control over and who on the team he should talk to if something isn't panning out the way he wants it...but when it comes to animation, I have the freedom to move the camera around, light it, and animate the actors' performances where I'm getting (not always) exactly what I wanted.
I thought I'd mention two specific videos and have you briefly comment on the process of making them. “Songs For Teenagers” by Fake Problems.
They're good friends of mine from my Look Mexico days, and I had 1st AD'd and assembled some crew for their "Dream Team" video, so I guess the next step was bringing the ball to my court. I produced their next video with some film school buddies for "Diamond Rings," and they eventually got in touch with me about doing this one.
I wrote out a few treatments, which I think they shot down, and then eventually I planned out one they liked; it was a lot less about the lyrics, and more about a feel - which is really hard to get across in a treatment. I worked with my buddy Bobby (who worked on the Look Mexico "You stay..." video with me) and my friend Kyle shot it. Bobby had worked with the Weeki Wachee Mermaids on a documentary, and when Fake Problems showed me a location they wanted to use (the dome buildings that appear in the video - off the coast of their hometown Naples, FL) it only made sense that we'd create a video where the dudes happen upon some mermaids.
It was the first thing I feel like I truly produced. Start to finish I handled the money, made phone calls, got folks on board, troubleshot the fuck out of some shit. It was hands down one of the most stressful things I've ever taken on. I never want to do it again (but undoubtedly will). The video has gotten a great response, and we're all happy as shit about it.
I want to point out that the four videos that I've produced or directed came in under $2,800. Most of them operated on about a $1,000 budget. So when you can make a relatively TINY amount of money go that far, it's something I'm very proud of...although I think I'd be more proud if I could get the crews paid what they deserve...
"Everybody Talks" by Neon Trees.
My buddy Patrick had put me in touch with a guy at Island Def Jam who reached out to me about perhaps doing an animated video for Neon Trees' “Your Surrender.” They needed it in two weeks. At the time, I hadn't taken less than eight weeks for the prior two animated pieces, so I didn't believe I could do it.
The next time they got in touch with me, I was determined to make it happen. This seemed like a crazy timeline still, but I felt I could pull it off. But the catch was, they needed to get the band and A&R folks to approve one of my three treatments. I sent in my treatments around Thanksgiving, and I didn't hear anything. I checked in a few times, but still didn't hear anything. Fast forward to December 15th, I get a call from Jazmine - a band rep - who tells me they want me to do the video. At this point I'm saying to myself, "no fucking way," but I figure what the shit, it will be awesome if I can do it. The next day I have money in my account, so I can't go back. I try and track down a partner animator, but it was the holidays and the last thing anyone wanted to do, so I decided to do it myself. They still needed to see a video by the 4th. Between the 16th and the 4th of January, I put in about 300+ hours on the video. I didn't work all of Christmas or Christmas eve, and I stopped early on new years to go see Fake Problems play with Against Me! here in Atlanta. But other than that, I was drinking so much coffee and chugging Red Bulls, and surviving on Trader Joe's noodle soups. It was a shit show, I lost about 10 pounds, but I couldn't be happier with the reception. It's only meant to be a viral video - so just a couple weeks ago they released a live version.
I just saw today one of the top comments was something like, "I like this one. Better than the live one...," which makes me feel real good. I think execution-wise it's head and shoulders above my Ninja Gun video. And I am just the proudest goddamn dude in the world that I did it in such a short time frame.
So any new video projects in the works?
I'm looking to hopefully do a project for myself here soon. I want to animate my ten minute play The Great Black Vulture. So, no music video stuff for me for a bit. I'm trying to concentrate on acting. I'd like to do at least one animated piece a year. So, hopefully something will come along, but ideally it will be my piece.
(Elford Alleyhas written plays, sketch comedy, and short stories. He currently lives in Dallas with his wife and daughter. Follow Elford on Twitter.)
Suicide is a punk/dance/synth pop duo who opened for The Clash in 1978, got booed off the stage every night, and may have been every bit as influential as those punks from London.
Alan Vega and Martin Rev have been called "Electronic pioneers," "Fathers of Synth Pop, Techno and Industrial," and "A true rockabilly outfit who sing bubblegum melodies with a dance beat." And way back in 1970, they were the first band to use the phrase "punk music" on a flyer.
I thought long and hard on how I would introduce Suicide to the uninitiated. Normally, if you want someone to explore a band's catalogue, you might want them to hear something melodic, a cool guitar riff, maybe some great harmonies or even a dance beat.
And if I was excited about a group, the next sentence would go something like, "Well, here's a song with all of that!" And the listening party would begin. You can hear the floor shaking already, can't you?
But I can't say that this time.
When you introduce Suicide to someone, there is really only one track to put on. And "Frankie Teardrop" is none of that.
I've listened to thousands of songs in my life. Songs that have made me feel happy, sad, melancholy, lovesick, and angry. Many had me dancing and on some occasions, I was compelled to throw things.
But "Frankie Teardrop" is the only song that has ever scared me.
The first time I heard it, it startled me, so I turned it off. It took me a few seconds before I gave it another spin.
Now, I can hear a few of you snickering. But consider yourselves lucky. You've had a warning. You know something's coming. I wasn't prepared. And if it's quiet wherever you’re reading this, or if you're alone, do yourself a favor. Listen to the song some other time. Spend the next ten minutes doing something else.
But maybe you like being scared. Maybe there's no one at home where you are. Maybe it is dark outside, and maybe you'll turn up the speakers and give it a listen anyway. So go ahead. Put on your best false bravado and click play.
I'll know this. For the next ten minutes, you'll be whistling in the dark.Just trying to survive.
(Jim Pace can usually be found directing music videos in and around NYC. He will begin production on his first feature film in 2013. He spends his spare time writing songs, screenplays and getting involved in anything that will give him an excuse to listen to more music.)
In our Writers and Musicseries, authors either discuss the music that has been included in their most recent novel/poems or the influence music has had on their work overall.
Kathryn Mockler is the author of the poetry book Onion Man (Tightrope Books, 2011). Her writing has been published most recently in Descant, Joyland, The Windsor Review, The Antigonish Review, Rattle Poetry, and Cellstories. She teaches creative writing at the University of Western Ontario and is the co-editor of the UWO online journal The Rusty Toque.
Onion Man is a series of linked poems, or rather a poem-novel, about an eighteen year-old girl working for the summer at a corn-canning factory in Southwestern Ontario in the late 1980s. This is a coming-of-age story about a young woman who is desperately unhappy and sees middle-class misery all around her—with her parents, her boyfriend’s parents, her friends, her co-workers. She doesn’t know what she wants out of life, but she knows she wants more than this.
I use music as way to define the characters, the location, and the time period. The factory nurse hums a Michael Jackson song while taking the narrator’s temperature, a group of middle-age secretaries sing “I Got You Babe” at Karaoke night at a local pub, the narrator’s boyfriend paints Joy Division album covers in art class, and the narrator listens to Meat is Murder on her Walkman to escape the boredom of her factory job.
The recession that started in the late-1980s made it impossible to get a job unless you had connections, which is how the narrator of Onion Mangets her position at the factory. It was also a time when unions were being dismantled. The narrator notes that she only gets paid $6.50 an hour but “anyone who/ was with/ Green Giant/ before they/ switched/ to Pillsbury/ gets twenty.”
There was a feeling of hopelessness, probably not unlike the way many young people feel today. The prosperity, opportunity, and jobs that the previous generation enjoyed, and in some ways took for granted, weren't going to be an option. In Onion Man the narrator is at a crossroads, deciding whether to take off to Vancouver with her boyfriend or finish her last year of high school.
While the book is semi-autobiographical in the time and place in which it is set (London, Ontario), the narrative is fictional. The book was written sporadically over a period of about fifteen years, and I drew heavily on my own adolescence, particularly in terms of how I felt about my life and the world. Around the time that the book is set, I was listening to bands and musicians that took a strong political and moral stance like The Clash, The Smiths, Joy Division, Billy Bragg, Jazz Butcher, Dead Kennedys, and Skinny Puppy among others.
Living in a mid-sized North American city, we weren't exposed to a lot of alternative culture in our day-to-day lives. We had to seek it out. We relied on our peers, TV, live shows, and the radio to introduce us to new music. A late night CBC radio show (which is referenced in Onion Man) called Brave New Waves, hosted by Brent Bambury and later by Patti Schmidt, was particularly influential in introducing alienated and insomniac teenagers to underground musicians, artists, and writers.
This music not only shaped my identity and my worldview—it was at this time that I started following politics and got interested in environmental concerns, which is probably what led me to becoming a writer—but it also helped me escape from what I perceived to be my bleak life. These musicians were speaking about the world and the people in it as I experienced it. I felt shitty, and it comforted me to know that someone else felt shitty in the same way. And, it still does.
There’s a line from The Smiths’ song “Nowhere Fast” that for me sums up the tone of the book in both its despair and sense of humor:
When former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart gave his opinion on a landmark obscenity case, he wrote, "While hard-core pornography was hard to define, I know it, when I see it." (The less famous next part of the sentence is, "and the motion picture involved in this case is not that.")
When it comes to a great song, there's no need to define it. We know when we hear it. Judges know porn; we know music. Which brings us to The Cosmopolitans, a New Wave, mostly all-girl band, that sounded a lot like the B-52's.
Jamie Sims, a classically trained musician, formed an alternative dance group - the Cosmopolitan Dance Troop - in North Carolina and moved to New York City to pursue a career in modern dance. On her first night in NYC, she attended a record release party for Blondie's first album! How's that for street cred?
In the early days of the Cosmopolitan Dance Troop, they go-go danced on stage with bands like The dB's and The Fleshtones. During this period, Sims began writing goofy songs for the act. The troupe struggled, so friends of The Cosmopolitans organized a benefit show at CBGB to help them out.
At the benefit, they performed one of their wacky compositions, along with their high energy, pom-pom girl/go-go dance act. The crowd ate it up. From that point, they began to book themselves as a rock band, while performing to pre-taped songs.
In 1980, they recorded three songs, and in a couple of months were signed by Shake Records. Shake released the single "(How to Keep Your) Husband Happy" b/w "Wild Moose Party." Soon after that, it went into rotation on WNEW, a major rock station in New York.
"(How to Keep Your) Husband Happy" is based on 1950s fitness guru Debbie Drake's exercise record. The song is a Gloria Steinem nightmare. It offers great "advice" like, "Shape up, tone up," "Nice voice; keep it soft and musical," and my favorite, "Excess fat, Taboo!"
Sims delivers the lines in a sarcastic cheerleader tone that will have you reaching for your pom-poms and wishing this band had recorded more material. A marvelous retro video directed by Michael Dugan includes footage from their performance on the infamous Uncle Floyd Show and illustrates exactly how "MTV-ready" the band was. But the birth of MTV was still a year away.
If you want more, just listen to "Chevy Baby." A song about - you guessed it - trading your baby for a Chevy. The Cosmopolitans toured the East Coast, but stardom never materialized. Sims contracted Epstein Barr Virus and the group dissolved in 1982.
Sims lives in Virginia, where she currently composes classical music. Everybody ready? Let's go! Shape up! Tone Up!...
(Jim Pace can usually be found directing music videos in and around NYC. He will begin production on his first feature film in 2013. He spends his spare time writing songs, screenplays and getting involved in anything that will give him an excuse to listen to more music.)
Declan Patrick MacManus, otherwise known as Elvis Costello, has been making records since 1977 when he recorded his first, My Aim is True. Since then, the singer/songwriter has recorded 30 studio albums. That's quite an output!
Here is my list of top five Elvis Costello albums. Why five? It's an arbitrary number, really, but it's also a very clean digit. Five. Wouldn't you say? Five.
I'm curious to know what albums are in your top five, so leave me a comment in the box below.
Album:Blood and Chocolate
Year: 1986
Highlights: Tokyo Storm Warning, I Want You & Blue Chair
Elvis Costello broke-up The Attractions (1986) to record King of America, but he reunited with them later that year along with his good friend, producer Nick Lowe. On Blood & Chocolate, Costello returns to old form and delivers a straight ahead, ferocious rock and roll album.
Album:King of America
Year: 1986
Highlights:Brilliant Mistake, Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood & American Without Tears
On this particular record, Little Hands of Concrete (as he is affectionately known) appeared to be looking for something different: he replaced The Attractions with L.A. session musicians, recorded an album of rootsy, folk-rock tunes about loss and heartbreak and billed himself by his given name, Declan Patrick MacManus.
Album:Get Happy
Year: 1980
Highlights: Love For Tender, High Fidelity, I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down & Riot Act
Twenty songs of impeccable blue-eyed soul, brimming with vigor and diversity. According to Stephen Thomas Erlewine at Allmusic.com, The Pop Encyclopedia "reinvents the past in his own image."
Album:This Year's Model
Year: 1978
Highlights: No Action, Pump it Up, (I Don't Want to go to) Chelsea & Lip Service
Elvis' first record with The Attractions as his backing group. The Attractions were a raucous rock and roll band, and because they blaze through the entire record at break-neck speed Costello delivers perhaps his punkiest record.
Album:Imperial Bedroom
Year: 1982
Highlights: Beyond Belief, Man Out of Time, Almost Blue & Little Savage
Elvis hired Beatles' engineer Geoff Emerick to produce this intricate, ornate and detailed pop record. According to Allmusic'sStephen Thomas Erlewine "Imperial Bedroom remains one of Costello's essential records because it is the culmination of his ambitions and desires -- it's where he proves that he can play with the big boys, both as a songwriter and a record-maker."
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